Hey, everyone!
So while I was looking for people to recruit for my team, one of the accounts I contacted got back to me and explained why she wasn't wanting to be a part of this and she made some really good points. Because of her reasoning, I've decided to change a few things about this website, as well as go into our grading system and why things are rated the way they are.
Firstly, I would like to say that this page no longer will tolerate blatant negativity towards any books. I have already taken down some of my posts that include said tones towards books. From now on, every reviewer here must only review books they personally would recommend and that they enjoyed; slandering of any type will not be allowed. Originally, this page was to review books, which went a little further than just recommending books and so, it brought on the idea of criticism as well. However, on my part, that got a little out of hand and I apologize for that. I never want an author to stumble across this site and feel bad about their works as they put in so much effort to write what they do for free and they don't expect anything in turn. They certainly do not deserve negative comments about their works. Now, this isn't to say that reviewers cannot include constructive criticism in their works, it only means they can't bash authors or flat out write a review on a book they didn't like.
Now, onto our grading system. For those of you who don't know, our grading system actually is based on a criteria and not 100% biased based on who is writing the review. In this post, I will go in depth on how exactly we grade and why. When introduced to our website, each new reviewer gets an information packet about their job as well as how to "grade" each book their review. Ultimately, the points are out of 10, but it's very rare that a book meets such standards. The standards set in place aren't meant to put a good book in a bad cetegory, nor vise versa. They're only meant to keep different bloggers' posts consistent and help narrow down which book someone should read if they're between two. Also, they help emphasize when a good is an ideal, must read.
+3 for plot
A book receives 3 points for plot and this simply is to differentiate books such as "smut with no plot" from books that at 190k words with a heavy amount of plot. Simply, if the book has some sort of plot, they receive those 3 points. Again though, there's nothing wrong if you enjoy a book with no plot and this isn't meant to put down authors who write those. These points are just based on a general standing of books in general, but the points don't make the book.
+2 for ending
This is applied to most books on here actually. This does include a bit of bias though. Basically, if the book ends in a way where you're content with it, then it earns these points. The only time that a book wouldn't recieve this is if it for example 1.) left on a terrible note or 2.) didn't really have an ending / just ended abrubtly without much of how things were left off with the characters. Or it simply just didn't make sense that it ended how it did.
+1 for writing
You can read a really good book with okay writing and still love it. There are hundreds of books out there that I love that are written at just an average standard. Similar to how the points don't make the book, the writing doesn't either. This point is merely just an added "umph" to its score. We all know the feeling when we read a good book with amazing writing. Books don't have to have amazing writing to be good books, but it always makes a book just a bit more special / memorable when they do. Two examples of this on the page that have earned this would be "Somebody to Love" by LOVERVMINS and really any book by thestarsbove as they're both such incredible writers; their vocabulary is vast, without being wordy, and their descriptions are immaculate.
+1 for consistency
This point is also applied to most books as it's if a book kept up with its details well. For example, let's say the book is a Wizarding World!au and a side character is mentioned at the beginning to have been place in house Ravenclaw; however, at the end, they're instead described to be in Hufflepuff. That's really all to this point. I will note that this point is different from character development though (I'll touch on that in a sec).
+1 for if you genuinely enjoyed it
This is one of our most bias-earning points in our system. Simply put, if the reviewer enjoyed it, then it gets this point.
+0.5 for character development
This is only worth 0.5 points simply because not all books need to have character development to be good. However, it's always enjoyable when they do. An example of a good book that very blatantly lacks character development (it's the first in what will soon become a sequel, so that's why the author made that choice) is HYBRID: Jimin by pocketbangtan. At the end of the book, the main character makes a choice that makes it very clear to the readers that he hasn't grown enough to make the right decision. This book, if it is to ever come up on this website, would not earn this point. However, it's still not a bad book because of that. If anything the lack of character development just prompts the author to add that in to the sequel; it'll give following books in the series more depth.
+0.5 for originality
I think most of you can agree that a book does not need to be original for it to be really good. A lot of people really enjoy (myself included) a good high school!au from time to time. However, books such as those would not earn this point. Again, just because a book doesn't earn this point doesn't mean it's a bad book, it's just the criteria our system works on.
+0.5 if you would read more by this author / recommend this author
This is a bit biased as well as it depends entirely on the reviewer. For example, every one of thestarsabove fics I've blogged about have earned this point simply because she's one of my favorite ao3 authors and I whole-heartedly recommend her to anyone who's looking for someone to read books of her type. This isn't a big deal when recommending books though, as why it's only worth 0.5.
+0.5 for characters staying relevant to their RL counterparts (if it’s intended for them to be. If the author purposefully changed their character for the book, then this is a given +0.5 to your score)
Again, this isn't necessary for any book to have. Sometimes, it's even better for a book to not have this as it makes for a better story. This is just saying that if a book is written to be almost canon to the RL version of the character it's surrounding (ex. Harry Styles fanfic based on actual events in his life), then the author would earn this point if they stay consistent to their IRL personality.
Now into the negatives. The reason we have negative points is because even if a book earns all these points and gets a 10/10, there might be some points that take away from book that weren't previously mentioned in the above criteria.
-1 for mention of ab*se, su*cide, or r*pe when it's not essential to the plot
These books can cause a lot of harm to readers, especially when warnings aren't initially presented. There are some books out there that use these topics to help build their characters and while that's understandable, books who just throw these in for "fun" or to "spice things up", aren't okay. "you're the dynamite in my chains" by cryptonomica is an example of a book that includes one of these topics; however, would not get the point deducted because it's essential to the plot and used to show character growth. As much as I don't care for the Netflix series, "Thirteen Reasons Why" is (if it were a fanfic to be reviewed on here) circles around teen su*cide for a good portion of its plot; thus, it wouldn't get the point deducted. Another example is the Thai LINE TV series, "Until We Meet Again". On the topic of books such as these, though, please keep in mind that our reviewers are required to include warnings to such topics in their reviews of them
-0.5 for unwanted / unnecessary death
I used to be a fanfic writer, I know how fun it is and how much authors just love to kill off characters for the fun of it. However, this can often upset readers, especially when it's unexpected and not essential to the plot.
-0.5 for cliffhanger with no plans to continue the story (a completed one; a WIP does not count)
Basically, if a story ends on a confusing note and the author plans to leave it like that, that's where this would get deducted.
-0.5 for plot hole(s)
Similarly to the consistency point, if there are noticeable plot holes in a book, it would get these points deducted.
And lastly,
-0.5 if the story gets rushed at the end / the pace of the ending does not match up with the rest of the story
The only real time this is deducted is if it's clear to the reader that the author is rushing the story at the end to simply just be done with it. Again, you can still read a good story with a rushed ending, it's just (usually) better if the ending fits the pace of the rest of the book.
So there you have it: our grading system. For all of you reading this, I just want you to remember that just because a book scores low based on our rubric, doesn't mean it's a bad story. You could write the best essay in your History class, super engaging, make some amazing points, but all because you didn't follow the rubric, you score less than 100%. That doesn't mean you wrote a bad essay though. It just means that the general scoring system set in place for every other essay didn't apply well to yours.
I hope this clears up any confusion.
-loaf